Soon after announcing his intention to pay for the planned increase in Japan’s defense budget by raising taxes, fierce opposition, including from his own party, forced Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to backtrack. But, to protect future generations, Japan must maintain fiscal prudence rather than continue to amass debt.
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently unveiled an ambitious plan to double the country’s defense budget to ¥43 trillion ($330 billion), roughly 2% of Japan’s GDP, over the next five years. Notably, the country’s massive rearmament program, its biggest since the end of World War II, has not triggered a political or public backlash. With Japan facing multiple security threats, including North Korean missile tests, Chinese coast-guard ships encroaching on its territorial waters, and Russia’s militarization of the disputed Kuril Islands (known in Japan as the Northern Territories), polls show public support for the proposed increase.
TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently unveiled an ambitious plan to double the country’s defense budget to ¥43 trillion ($330 billion), roughly 2% of Japan’s GDP, over the next five years. Notably, the country’s massive rearmament program, its biggest since the end of World War II, has not triggered a political or public backlash. With Japan facing multiple security threats, including North Korean missile tests, Chinese coast-guard ships encroaching on its territorial waters, and Russia’s militarization of the disputed Kuril Islands (known in Japan as the Northern Territories), polls show public support for the proposed increase.